Thursday, 26 October 2017

Youth Alive Workshops

Youth Alive
Educational Workshops for Professionals and Students in Navrongo.

Currently, Youth Alive is conducting a three month project
funded by the UK International Children’s Trust to focus on building Youth
Confidence and improving the educational experience and support within the
Navrongo communities. As part of these objectives a three day training
programme had been organised for teachers and peer educators to attend relating
to Active Learning, Finance and a Peer Educator workshop. As a newly qualified
primary school teacher I was intrigued to participate in the workshops to
develop my own knowledge and to learn more about the education system in a developing
country.

The Workshops

Day 1 – Active Learning:

The conference aimed to highlight the importance of Active Learning
to the teachers of Junior and Senior High Schools in Navrongo, Northern Ghana.
The concept of Active Learning seems to be relatively new in Ghana, and the
session was able to educate those involved on the benefits children can have
from taking a more responsible role in their own learning, moving educators
away from traditional teaching styles.

Photo Credit: Katey Forster

The session was engaging and fun as it incorporated Active Learning,
with teachers participating in group discussions and activities that would
encourage them to think beyond what they had been directly told by the speaker.
I found this a very powerful method to use as the teachers will then be able to
appreciate the importance of Active Learning for themselves.

Similar to the UK, the teachers were challenged to think
outside the box for creative ways children could be more involved in their
learning. The ideas that were presented by the teachers include:

·Group Discussions

·Class Games (an example was played during the
session with some of the teachers)

·Learning by teaching

·Whole Class discussion

·Think, Pair, Share

·Student Debates

·Video/Input Response (questions/feedback)

Photo Credit: Katey Forster

It was really engaging as a spectator to see how the
teachers were responding to the information given regarding Active Learning. It
can be challenging as a teacher to be told that what you are currently doing in
your own classroom may not be the best approach to use, but the teachers all
took on board the new learning method.

The feedback that the teachers were able to give towards the
end of the session was fitting to the content. They were confident to ask
questions to their colleagues, encouraged each other to expand on ideas
respectfully and overall seemed to have a really enjoyable time.

Day 2 – Finance and Accounting:

The aim of this session was to discuss how funds are
received and how finance records are kept and monitored in schools. The session
was delivered by Mr Alhassan Bibarajie, who began by asking the teachers to
group off and make a list of ways the funds are distributed and monitored
effectively. He walked around the groups, contributing to their ideas and
challenging why they think it may be done this way. The groups mainly focussed
on ways that funds are monitored such as: cash analysis books;
invoices/receipts; logbooks; inventories; and class attendance records.

Photo Credit: Cameron Johnson

As a NQT in the UK I feel that I am unable to compare the
ways in which funds are distributed in

British schools. From what I know, I
believe the local councils take into account the location of the school
(whether it is in a deprived area or not) and how likely the parents are to
contribute financially – this excludes private schools – and distribute funds
from their findings.

Before any money is spent, a meeting is set up with parents,
staff and members of the community to discuss the needs of the school. It’s
reassuring to know that parents and members of the community here in Navrongo,
are able to have an input on how the money is spent, meaning that hopefully
money is not wasted on items deemed unnecessary.

After the discussion, Mr Alhassan highlighted what you would
expect to see in a sample cash book. The remainder of the session was then
based around educating the professionals about cash books.

It was refreshing to watch the teachers work on the
activities so well – staying focussed on the task at hand. They were eager to
learn and expand their knowledge further. Nobody worked negatively and peer
educating between the teachers was very inspiring. Even as an outsider, if I
wasn’t understanding something they were being told, they were happy to explain
it to me – one gentleman took the time to write down information I missed which
he gave to me at the end of the session.
Mr Peter informed me that the teachers will be expected to teach their
colleagues when they return to their individual schools.

Day 3 – Peer Educators:

This session worked with the Peer Educators of schools in
Navrongo. The title of the presentation was “Youth
Active workshop for students on how to study and how to use a dictionary.” delivered
by Mr Albert Awe Adonnawura.

Photo Credit: Ephraim Ekow Ashun

The content of the session wasn’t exactly what I imagined
but mainly focussed on teaching them how to study. I expected that the school
children would be informed on the ways in which they could support their peers
when it comes to school, whether that be with studying or with issues they may
be facing within school, such as attendance/punctuality.

The workshop was very long and didn’t incorporate any active
learning for the children, but I was later informed by Mr Peter that the
original speaker had cancelled last minute and therefore they had to find a
replacement on very short notice. The children were asked questions throughout
the workshop to try to involve them but I felt they were too nervous to speak
up and ask questions. This could have been because we were sat at the back
watching, making them feel a little intimidated.

When asked “What sort of personality do you feel a peer
educator needs?” the children were able to list really inspiring qualities such
as:

·Knowledgeable

·Leading by example

·Polite to peers

·Respectful

·Honest

·Hardworking

·Disciplined

·Obedient to teachers

·Confident

·Courageous

Photo Credit: Ephraim Ekow Ashun

For the second half of the workshop, the children focussed
on learning how to properly use a dictionary. The expectation is that they will
pass on their knowledge to their class mates. Mr Albert explained how to use a
dictionary. For example, there is a pronunciation table at the front of the
book that the children can refer to which can help them practise their spoken
English more.

The children were all given a dictionary each and told to
find a particular word. We challenged them further by giving them another word
to find. I think the children really enjoyed this part of the workshop as they
turned it into a competition among their peers on who could find the word
first. There was a lot of conversation generated from this activity, all around
the intention of the workshop. The enjoyment and engagement from a simple
activity emphasises the benefits Active Learning can have in the classroom.

As a team, we sat down with Mr Peter to feed back our
thoughts on how the workshop went and it was concluded that giving the children
more opportunities to be actively learning then they may have been more engaged
and able to talk more confidently on how to study and how to use a dictionary.

Overall, I really enjoyed learning about the education
system in Ghana. I feel there is still quite a way to go in educating teachers
and children more appropriately, but it can be argued that in the UK we have
still not yet mastered the education system either. There will always be room
for improvement and educators will argue that particular methods are more
effective than others. However, if Youth Alive can keep empowering the teachers
and students in Navrongo to have a passion for education then they will
continue to progress.